DEADLY DILEMMA

by Dan Stratman

Lance stepped away from Cyndi. “No, of course not. But we’re a crew. We did this together, and we’re going to fight this together. We’re going to win. You’ll see.”

  “Are you willing to risk your freedom on beating a one-star general in a military courtroom?” McNeil said condescendingly. He crossed his arms and waited for an answer.

  Lance didn’t respond. He wrung his hands as he paced the floor.

  “He’s right.”

  Lance looked up to see Cyndi staring right at him.

  “He’s right,” she repeated. “I was in command. I’m the one ultimately responsible for what happened at Alpha One, not you.” She drew in a deep breath. “Enough damage has been done already. Go to pilot training. Get your wings.” Tears streamed down her soft cheeks. “At least one of us will achieve their dream.”

  Lance’s brown eyes watered up. He reached out and took Cyndi by the hand. “You don’t have to do this. We can fight this together.”

  She pulled her hand away. “There is no we. I can take care of myself. I don’t need your help.” Cyndi turned her back on Lance. “Don’t be a fool. Take his offer.” She began softly sobbing. “That’s an order, Lieutenant Garcia.”

  Lance couldn’t breathe. He felt the oxygen being sucked out of his lungs. A malfunctioning launch console that was determined to nuke China and a bloodthirsty Delta Force operator out to murder them suddenly seemed inconsequential compared to making sense of his conflicting emotions. The first woman he’d ever fallen for had just turned her back on him and told him to betray her.

  Going to prison would be like being locked in a claustrophobic LCC for the rest of his life.

  Going on without Cyndi would be worse.

  Lance came up behind her. He reached out to comfort Cyndi but hesitated. He pulled his trembling hands back. Lance swallowed hard. “I’m sorry, Cyndi. I wish it hadn’t come to this. The general is right. With the evidence he has, we don’t stand a chance in hell of beating this.”

  “You’ve finally come to your senses, Garcia,” McNeil said. “You won’t regret this.”

  Lance shot daggers at McNeil and shook his head in disgust. He looked back at Cyndi. Her body quivered as she sobbed. “I need to explain why I’m doing this, Cyndi. Please turn around.”

  “Just go away.”

  “Please.”

  Lance waited.

  Cyndi didn’t move.

  “I have to look you in the eyes when I say this. After that, I’ll do whatever you ask.”

  Cyndi lifted her head and wiped away her tears with the sleeve of her flight suit. Arms tightly crossed, she turned to face Lance. “Make it quick.”

  “I’ve dreamed of being a pilot ever since I was a little kid. It’s all I’ve ever wanted to do. That’s why I joined the Air Force. That’s why I watched Top Gun so many times.”

  “Well, now you have your big chance. You’ll forgive me if I don’t throw you a party.”

  Lance shook his head and gritted his teeth. “God! Has anyone ever told you that you can be so infuriating, so damn stubborn, so—”

  “I’m stubborn? I’m sure you own plenty of mirrors, pretty boy, try looking in one.”

  “Get on with it, Son,” McNeil barked.

  “Yes, sir.” He took in a deep breath. “I’m not very good at…” Lance cleared his throat. “What I mean is…Ah hell, in the words of that great philosopher Maverick, ‘You never leave your wingman.’ We’re a crew. You and I are going to take on the Air Force, and we’re going to win.”

  Cyndi’s jaw dropped. She leaped into his arms. Tears of joy streamed down her face. She gently cradled his cheeks in her hands and pulled Lance in close for a kiss.

  “You son of a bitch!” McNeil roared. “You think you’re going to stab me in the back and get away with it? You just dug your own grave, Garcia!”

  Lance just shrugged. “Maybe. But six feet under and sixty feet underground feel the same to me—dark and smelly.” He winked at Cyndi. “Either way, I’ll take my chances.”

  “I hope she’s worth it, Son, because the two of you are going away for life.”

  “We’ll see about that,” Cyndi retorted.

  McNeil slammed the folder down on the desk. “Forget about what’s in here. Do you really think the judge is just going to overlook everything else you traitors did? You abandoned an armed nuclear missile accessible to anyone driving by. Our top Chinese missile expert is dead because of you. Major Pierce and his entire team are dead! I don’t care what kind of fantastic stories you come up with, you’re going to lose!”

  Cyndi let go of Lance. She turned and faced McNeil. “What did you just say?”

  Chapter Fifty-Three

  “You heard me!” McNeil said.

  Cyndi cocked her head to the side. “How did you know Pierce had a team with him? I never mentioned that when I called you.”

  “Of course you did. How else would I have known? The extreme stress you were under has obviously damaged your fragile memory.”

  “Her memory is just fine.” Lance turned and addressed the general. “I was standing right next to Cyndi when she made the call. She never said it.”

  Cyndi’s blue eyes opened wide. “Oh my God. How could I have not seen it? It’s you. You did this.”

  “You really are paranoid, Stafford,” McNeil huffed.

  “That’s why you picked me. You set me up to take the blame for all of this.” Cyndi’s legs suddenly felt weak.

  Lance grabbed her and held her up. “We trusted you. We came to you for help. You bastard.”

  “You’re the one going to jail, General McNeil,” Cyndi said. “For high treason.”

  He just laughed at her hollow threat. “Not only are you paranoid, Captain, you’re hopelessly naïve.” McNeil walked over and snatched the picture of President Donovan off the wall. He spit on it then hurled it to the floor, shattering the glass. Next, he swept his arm across Crawford’s desk. Her laptop crashed to the floor. Papers scattered across the room.

  “What are you doing?” Cyndi shouted.

  In an eerily calm voice, McNeil said, “After I provided proof that you were behind this devious plot, you two martial arts experts attacked me. Said you were going to kill me.” He picked up a razor-sharp shard of glass and slashed it across his face. A deep gash opened below his right eye. Blood gushed down his cheek. “I had to make sure the truth got out, so I fought back valiantly.” He kicked over his secretary’s chair, denting the wall as it crashed into it. “After a vicious fight, it finally ended. I was victorious, of course.”

  “You won’t get away with this,” Cyndi said. “Even if I have to get every lawyer in the Air Force involved, the truth of what you did will all come out in the court-martial.”

  “I won’t allow you to waste taxpayers’ money on a baseless fishing expedition,” McNeil roared back.

  “Allow? Yeah, right. We’ll see you in court, General.” Lance hooked his arm around Cyndi. They turned to leave.

  A folder full of circumstantial incriminating evidence wasn’t the only thing that McNeil had retrieved from his desk. He reached around his back and pulled a .38 Special snub-nosed revolver from his waistband.

  “There’s not going to be a court-martial.”

  Chapter Fifty-Four

  Cyndi and Lance spun around.

  McNeil aimed the gun at Cyndi’s heart. “You couldn’t just be a good airman and fall on the damned grenade, could you? No, you had to cause trouble.”

  Lance held out both hands. “Put the gun down, sir. We can work this out.”

  “You had your chance, Garcia.” He waved the gun to his right. “Move away from the door.”

  “You’re insane,” Cyndi said, still clutching Lance.

  McNeil snorted. “Genius is the word that comes to mind. Striking the largest cities in China was a tactically brilliant move. It would’ve decapitated the entire Chinese Politburo in one strike. Their military would have been decimated. The most dangerous country in the world would have been sent back
to the Stone Age, where it belongs.”

  Lance stepped in front of Cyndi. “If you so much as scratch her, I’ll…”

  “What, kill me? In case you haven’t noticed, I’m the one with the gun. Adding two more chumps to my body count won’t bother me a bit. And I have the perfect alibi. An open-and-shut case of self-defense if there ever was one.”

  “I knew it,” Cyndi said, shaking her head. “How did you con Pierce and Dr. Zhao into going along with your insane plan?”

  McNeil grunted with a self-assured grin. “Ever read a history book? Revenge isn’t just the strongest motivation; it’s also the easiest to manipulate. Why do you think I targeted them? They were more than willing to go along with my plan.”

  Lance started toward McNeil.

  “Get back!” he screamed.

  Cyndi grabbed Lance’s arm. “No!”

  McNeil cocked the hammer. “Say hello to your father, Stafford.” He sighted down the barrel and started to squeeze the trigger.

  Suddenly, the office door crashed open. The window shattered.

  A dozen heavily armed security forces stormed in, their M4 carbines raised to the firing position.

  The team leader, 1st Lt. Tommy Norris—a tough Nebraska farm kid who once captured an entire Taliban platoon on one of his many deployments—saw McNeil holding a revolver and drew his M9 pistol. “Drop the gun!”

  “Shoot him!” Cyndi screamed, pointing at McNeil. “He was going to murder us!”

  “Lower your weapon, Lieutenant!” McNeil ordered the team leader, pointing his finger in his direction. He kept his .38 pointed at Cyndi. “These traitors attacked me! Shoot them! Now! That’s a direct order!”

  Half the airmen trained their rifles on Cyndi and Lance, half on General McNeil.

  Norris swung his gun toward Cyndi.

  “He’s the traitor, not us!” Cyndi pleaded.

  Lola Crawford darted into the office. She pointed at Cyndi and Lance. “That’s them. Those are the two lunatics who burst into my office yelling crazy nonsense.”

  “Shoot them, dammit!” McNeil bellowed.

  The team leader shifted his pistol back and forth. Confusion pummeled his synapses. “Everyone shut up!” He swung it back and kept his gun aimed at McNeil. “Put your gun down, sir. I need to figure out what the hell is happening here. Lower your weapon.”

  McNeil glanced sideways. He was looking straight down the barrel of Norris’s Beretta. He turned back and sighted down his .38 at the center of Cyndi’s chest. His finger tightened around the trigger.

  “Don’t do it!” the lieutenant screamed.

  Chapter Fifty-Five

  All twelve rifles swung toward McNeil.

  “I’ll sort all this out after my men are safe,” Norris said. “This is your last warning, General. Gun down, now.”

  All eyes were on McNeil.

  Heavy breathing from the amped-up airmen was the only sound in the room.

  McNeil squinted and considered the overwhelming firepower aimed his way. “Of course, no problem.” He thumbed the hammer and slowly returned it to the safety position. “You have the situation well in hand, Lieutenant. I was holding these violent criminals in my office until you brave men showed up.” He laid the .38 down on Crawford’s desk and backed away.

  The men kept their guns trained on McNeil. Adrenaline coursed through their veins. Their trigger fingers were twitching.

  “Stand down, dammit!” McNeil ordered.

  They ignored the general and looked to their team leader.

  “Lower your weapons,” he said.

  The men reluctantly complied.

  “Sir, what’s the situation here? Why did you have them at gunpoint?”

  Colonel Wilmer stumbled into the office panting heavily. He bent down and planted his hands on his knees. “General McNeil…” He gulped down three deep breaths. “There’s been an emergency at site Alpha One.”

  “I’m fully aware of what happened, Colonel.” He pointed at Cyndi. “They just confessed to sabotaging the site and trying to launch a nuclear missile at China.”

  “Jesus!” Wilmer gasped.

  “He’s lying!” Cyndi and Lance shouted out in unison.

  “When I attempted to stop them from fleeing, they tried to kill me.” McNeil touched his cheek then displayed his bloody hand for everyone to see.

  Cyndi and Lance’s torn and blood-stained flight suits only served to add more nails to their quickly closing coffins.

  “You’re missileers, for God’s sake,” Norris said with disgust. “How could you betray your country like that?”

  “He’s behind all this!” Cyndi yelled, pointing at McNeil. “He just admitted it. You have to believe me!”

  The lieutenant waved his men over. “Handcuff these two. They’re under arrest.”

  A policeman approached Cyndi and pulled handcuffs out of a pouch on his belt. “Hands in front. Wrists together.” From memory, he recited, “You have the right to remain silent. If you do say anything, it can—”

  “No!” Cyndi had no intention of going quietly. She spun around and delivered a roundhouse kick to the side of his temple. His body went limp as he hit the floor like a bag of wet sand.

  In a flash, Lance extended his right leg behind the airman in front of him, grabbed his tactical vest, and shoved with all his might. The man tripped and tumbled backward to the ground.

  The remaining airmen sprang into action. They violently tackled Cyndi and Lance.

  An all-out brawl erupted. Arms, legs, and fists thrashed wildly about.

  The fight was over before it had even started. Cyndi and Lance didn’t stand a chance of prevailing against such overwhelming odds.

  Moments later, they lay on their backs, pinned down by five men apiece.

  The airmen forced their wrists together while the lieutenant handcuffed each of them.

  “Get off me!” Cyndi squirmed and kicked, trying to break free.

  “Stop resisting!” Norris ordered.

  Lance worked a foot loose, kicked out, and caught one of the men in the jaw.

  Airmen wrestled his leg back down and lay across his shins to prevent more strikes.

  Norris fastened thick iron leg shackles—linked together by heavy chain—to their ankles to prevent Cyndi and Lance from doing any more damage to his team.

  The chains clanked and rattled as the security forces hauled Cyndi and Lance up to their feet.

  With Cyndi safely restrained, General McNeil marched up to her. “Put these traitors in solitary confinement in the stockade,” he barked. “I don’t want anyone talking to them or visiting them without my authorization.”

  “Yes, sir. Take them away,” Norris said, waving toward the door.

  “You have to believe us,” Lance pleaded. “We didn’t have anything to do with this.” He pointed a threatening finger at Norris. “The only reason you’re not a pile of radioactive ash right now is because of us.”

  “General McNeil admitted he was the mastermind just before you arrived,” Cyndi implored.

  “Stafford has a documented history of paranoia,” McNeil said in his defense. He picked up the file. “It’s all in here.” He tossed it back on the desk. “What’s more, Captain Stafford did that.” He pointed out the window.

  Fire trucks were still dousing the flames in the parade field.

  “You said so yourself, didn’t you, Stafford?” McNeil said accusingly.

  “I had no other choice,” Cyndi pleaded. “Major Pierce was going to kill us!”

  “It’s not my job to decide who’s telling the truth,” Norris said. “You’ll have a trial in six months. The judge will sort everything out.”

  “Six months!” Fear radiated from Lance’s eyes. “McNeil could have us knocked off before then. He’s already killed everyone else who could implicate him.”

  “I’m sorry, there’s nothing else I can do,” Norris said with true compassion in his voice. “I have my orders.” He pointed at the door. “Take them away.”


  This can’t be happening, Cyndi thought. Panic swamped her senses. Her heart beat in her chest like a jackhammer.

  Everything she’d worked so hard for, all her achievements, were being stolen from her.

  So what if her dad had been demanding and her mother could be challenging to get along with? So what if she only had her mom left? So what if she was never going to be a fighter pilot? Life wasn’t perfect. She could learn to deal with it. These issues paled in comparison to what was happening. Cyndi Stafford was about to receive a death sentence for something she didn’t do. And she was powerless to stop it.

  “Please! You can’t do this!” Cyndi screamed as the airmen grabbed her arms.

  Chapter Fifty-Six

  “Wait.”

  All eyes turned to Lola Crawford.

  She stayed fixated on Cyndi. She saw the desperation in her eyes. “Hold on, Captain.” Crawford gestured toward the parade field. “Did you say Major Pierce?”

  “Yes,” Cyndi replied. “He’s a lunatic. He came out to Alpha One to kill us. He said General McNeil sent him.”

  “He’s a lunatic all right.” Crawford shivered at recalling their earlier encounter. “Pierce scared the hell out of me, and all he wanted me to do was get the general for him.”

  “See, they did know each other,” Lance pointed out.

  “Norris, I ordered you to take these two to the stockade,” McNeil barked.

  “I heard you, sir,” Norris said, trying to keep his cool.

  “Then do it, dammit!”

  Crawford blocked the door. “Wait, I can prove who’s telling the truth.”

  “How could you possibly know?” Norris said. “You weren’t in the room.”

  “Because it’s on tape.”

  “What?” McNeil’s face turned ghostly white.

  Crawford pointed at the ceiling.

  The tiny red light on the smoke detector cover was blinking.

  “My friend Oliver secretly installed a tiny video camera in the smoke detector. That’s why he stopped by once a week, to change the batteries in it. The recordings are stored in my cloud account.”